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Just weeks after the massive power outage that crippled parts of Spain and Portugal, the country was hit again on May 20 by another large-scale disruption: a major telecommunications outage affecting several regions, including Madrid, Andalusia, Aragon, and Navarre.
The outage impacted landlines, home internet services, and in many areas, access to 112 (the equivalent of the 911 emergency line in Canada). For several hours, millions of people were unable to reach emergency services, work remotely, or carry out normal daily operations.
In a world where our infrastructure, services, and communications depend heavily on digital technology, incidents like this—whether caused by technical failure, cyberattacks, weather-related damage, or malicious acts—are likely to become more frequent.
A Global Pattern Repeating Itself
In our recent article (When Europe Goes Dark: A Lesson for Québec and Canada), we highlighted an unavoidable reality: modern societies rely on five vital pillars.
When even one of them collapses, the consequences can be immediate and severe. This event directly reflects the fragility of one such pillar: “our increasing dependence on digital systems and the cloud.”
When a single provider fails, an entire country can be brought to its knees—without a Plan B.
Real-World Consequences
- 👨👩👧👦 For the population: inability to call for help, panic, misinformation, isolation of vulnerable individuals.
- 🏥 For public services:
- Delayed emergency response, inability to coordinate critical resources, erosion of public trust.
- In the health sector: disruption of fax transmissions (still widely used), delays in imaging results, and inability to access remotely hosted medical records.
- For emergency services: breakdown of vehicle-based communications, radio transmission failures, and operational challenges during deployments.
- 🏢 For businesses:
- Operational shutdowns, financial losses, inability to communicate with clients and suppliers.
- Loss of internet connectivity impacting supply chains, customer service, and remote work.
- Loss of telecom links to cloud-hosted systems, rendering critical tools (ERP, CRM, email, production platforms) inaccessible.
- Disconnection from remote data centers, preventing access to backups, processing environments, or recovery systems.
What Now?
Here are some tangible solutions to consider:
- Diversify emergency communication channels (radio, satellite, physical coordination centers).
- Regularly test your response plans for communication outages (BCP, crisis management, emergency measures).
- Ensure critical systems can function in degraded mode, even without network access.
- Learn from incidents occurring elsewhere and integrate those lessons into your own planning.
- Train and raise awareness among teams on how to respond to communication failures.
Strategic Support to Prevent Disruption
At Benoit Racette Services-conseils inc., we help organizations protect their critical operations, ensure employee safety, and maintain customer trust—even in the face of major disruptions.
With over 27 years of specialized experience in business continuity, crisis management, emergency preparedness, and IT disaster recovery planning, Benoit Racette offers rigorous and confidential support to turn complex risks into practical, tailored solutions.
🔍 Resilience diagnostics
🛡️ Up-to-date business continuity plans
🚨 Effective crisis management frameworks
💾 Realistic IT recovery strategies
These are the tools that separate organizations that simply endure… from those that respond with control and confidence.
Want to assess your vulnerabilities, adjust your continuity plans, or prepare more effectively?
👉 Contact us: [email protected]